How to stuff a pumpkin…

Pumpkin is one of those vegetables (yes, I know that technically it’s a fruit) that I have a love-hate relationship with.

My mother used to mash it with potato and I hated it so much I’d gag on it. ‘Oh Joanne,’ she’d say. ‘There’s no need for the dramatics.’ She still does it that way and I still gag on it. She also used to boil it. Yep, gag material as well. It’s really only at Christmas that she’d roast it- and apologise if it had little burnt bits around the edge. Coincidentally, that’s one way I do enjoy eating it: roasted with burnt caramelised bits.

I also dislike pumpkin soup- unless it’s my husbands’ version. He adds ginger and garlic and spices it up- plus he makes sure that it’s silky smooth. I can’t abide the lumps- it reminds me of boiled or mashed pumpkin and I’ll gag.

If that’s the hate part, what about the love? If it’s on the menu, I’ll choose a pumpkin and feta risotto any day. Like this one at Ventuno in Walsh Bay.

I also make a fabulous pumpkin macaroni cheese- if I do say so myself. The link to the recipe is here.

So I was a little concerned when my brother announced that he was doing a whole pumpkin in the camp oven on Friday night. Would it fall into the love category, or would I be gagging?

The verdict? If his Semur Daging (that’s Indonesian beef stew) wasn’t as spicily good as it was, I would have declared the pumpkin the dish of the weekend. It was, without a doubt, the most impressively theatrical dish.

Want the recipe? I’m glad you asked…

(As an aside, when I opened the notebook that I’d written this in, the smell of the fire came out from the pages…)

What you need…

1 large pumpkin

¾ cup cooked rice

3-4 cooked bacon rashers, chopped. You could also use some smoky chorizo for a little more paprika goodness. Fry it up and chop it up.

Don’t be too precious with ingredients or quantities. This is, as all great camp recipes should be, a great use of leftovers or pantry staples. Some chilli for kick is always a good idea…

What you do with it…

Place pumpkin in a foil lined camp oven. Depending on your coals, the bottom can get really hot- so double foil it. Bake it over moderate coals until it’s tender. This will take about an hour- fires are not an exact science. The coals on the lid will help cook the pumpkin all the way through.

While it’s cooking, mix all of your stuffing ingredients together. This really is multi-tasking at its best.

Remove the pumpkin carefully from the oven and cut the top off it.

Scoop the seeds out from the centre, taking care not to remove any of the sweet flesh.

Spoon the rice mix into the pumpkin shell and return the pumpkin to the camp oven.

Pour the chicken stock over and replace the pumpkin lid, and then the lid of the camp oven.

Put it back on the coals (with some more on the lid) and cook for another 30-40 minutes until it’s beautifully tender.

The Fine-print

Unless I say otherwise, all photos on this blog have come from my camera- or my phone. Likewise all text, unless I say otherwise, has come from my head. I'm happy for you to use it, but please give credit where due.